Chapter 97 38. The Second Miracle
The Second Miracle
Episode 98
A void formed on one side of the Obelisk.
KWA-AANG!
A Fallen Angel had carved away their life to summon a 「Record」.
Yet, mist surged once more over the now-transparent altar.
[...]
Pierrot lifted his gaze to the hazy sky.
Countless black feathers scattered endlessly.
The final moments of a Fallen Angel.
The 「Unfunny Clown」, who hadn't budged an inch from his spot, merely twisted his brows in an odd expression.
'What in the world is this supposed to mean?'
Tirpe, who had been sent flying and slammed into the Obelisk, was still alive. To be precise, she was barely clinging to life.
Her head hung limply, but her eyes remained open as she lost consciousness. Blood trickled down from the reddened whites of her eyes.
'This shouldn't be possible, no? Kehehehe?'
The power the Fallen Angel had momentarily amplified by sacrificing their lifespan had barely reached 「F」.
It stood no chance against the man's own Record, which had reverted to [E] the moment he disappeared.
Naturally, when force clashed with force, one should have been reduced to dust.
Perhaps realizing she couldn't escape his speed, the Fallen Angel had charged straight through.
The result? The Fallen Angel had been erased by his own 「Record」.
She should have died then.
But—
CRACK-CRACK—
The image of Tirpe, who should have perished, distorted. For an instant, the world turned transparent like glass—then shattered.
PAAANG!
And in the world that returned to normal, Tirpe—still alive—was sent flying back to the Obelisk. Though, in the end, she was still on the verge of death.
Pierrot giggled softly, pressing both hands against his face.
[My, my, this is unexpected.]
He approached Tirpe's side.
Her unmoving eyes remained fixed on her stomach until the very end.
Her hands cradled it protectively.
[How pitiful, a Fallen Angel carrying a child. Well, since you're already fallen, you'll be purified just fine. Hohoho!]
That was when it happened.
The Fallen Angel, who might as well have been a corpse, twitched.
With great effort, she moved her arm and covered her stomach with her palm.
[Ah, a mother's love? How touching. Oh, not that I'm actually crying, of course. I'll send you off with your child. Unlike me, you'll be happy, won't you? Ah, how peaceful.]
The clown spun his dagger in hand and took a step forward.
Tears of blood dripped from the Fallen Angel's eyes.
Then—
WHOOSH—
The clowns sensed something strange.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
Where their gazes gathered—
FWOOSH—
A mysterious heat haze took shape, revealing a being clad in infinite layers of armor.
『Overlord 1 / 1,000,000』
A knight, wreathed in translucent flames, stood before them.
* * *
Before colliding with the clown, Tirpe had already prepared for death.
She was used to it.
The moment her spear clashed with the dagger—
She sensed her end.
But this time was different.
Unlike the deaths she had resigned herself to before, this time, there was a weight in her stomach she had to protect to the very end.
『Your child lends you their strength.』
As a mother carrying a child, she couldn't give up.
'Even for just a moment...'
She needed just enough strength to break through and escape.
PAAANG!
But her spear shattered.
Her vision darkened—that should have been the end.
Death was supposed to be something that cut off abruptly, just like that.
...Which meant this wasn't death at all.
WHOOSH—
Before she knew it, her surroundings were filled with light.
In this strangely warm embrace of what should have been death—
<It's alright, child.>
A gentle voice reached her—something that should have been impossible.
Someone was watching over her.
But the light was too bright to make out their face.
As Tirpe squinted, a radiant hand reached out to her.
<You're not alone anymore, are you?>
The light, smiling warmly, clasped her hand affectionately.
<Take care of... 'that child' for me.>
Child? Who are they talking about?
In an instant, the light vanished.
Slowly, her eyes opened.
The consciousness that had been suspended in light awakened.
A bloodied field of vision.
The world before her burned transparently.
And within it—he appeared.
A knight clad in infinite layers of armor.
He stood boldly before her, as if shielding her.
"!"
His bizarre appearance resembled a demon king at a glance. But he also looked like a noble hero.
A knight whose image shifted depending on the angle from which he was viewed.
A being of infinite forms, impossible to define as just one thing.
The Overlord, shrouded in mystery even in the Outer Dimension.
One-millionth of him.
『Overlord 1 / 1,000,000』
A fragment of him had manifested here.
The clown, unable to bear the sudden humiliation, wrinkled his nose in fury.
[Th-this... me, not even 1/10,000, but a measly 1/1,000,000?! 1/1,000,000?! Are you insulting me right now?! Overlord!!]
The most enigmatic calamity of the Outer Dimension.
The reason he had appeared as one-millionth—
[This is an insult to me!!]
—was because one-millionth was more than enough for the clowns.
GOOOO—
The Overlord did not answer.
He merely let his countless overlapping capes flutter, while a pale glow emanated from within the layers of his helmet.
Tirpe stared blankly at the Overlord's retreating figure.
'...What on earth is this...?'
The enigmatic being who had bestowed upon her the 「Outer Dimension Circuit」.
There was no reason for this mysterious knight to remember her, yet here he was, protecting her.
[It was not I who saved you.]
The Overlord responded.
That voice—still ambiguously feminine yet masculine, an androgynous tone impossible to forget after just one encounter.
The Overlord turned around.
Click—
Suddenly, he extended his index finger.
Tirpe's focus barely managed to settle on his semi-transparent gauntlet.
There,
"......?"
Only the ever-flowing mist remained, with nothing else happening. But what he pointed at wasn't the mist.
[I am the boundary. No phenomenon is born from me. Therefore, you must create it yourselves.]
The words were cryptic.
Yet her heart pulsed with a new rhythm.
"!"
『「Outer Dimension Circuit (Rare)」 is forcibly evolving to 「Heroic grade」.』
『「Outer Dimension Circuit」 is synchronizing with the 「Obelisk of Origin」.』
Light poured into her heart, which had stopped breathing. In response, the colossal obelisk began to ignite with radiance.
"......Ah?"
Pierrot's face twisted grotesquely as he witnessed the phenomenon.
But his warped mind arrived at a thought wholly inappropriate for the situation.
'Hahaha! Oh, this, this. The great ones truly do favor the talented, don't they? So much so~ it makes me jealous. Even though that one is already as good as dead.'
This phenomenon was undeniably the Overlord and the obelisk's favor—
A benevolence from the great ones that no resident of the Outer Dimension had ever received.
And so—
[Kkhhahahahaha!! Aaah! Aaah!! I'm already thrilled!! The one you great beings sought to protect—if I kill that one with my own hands, how will you react!? I can't wait to see—!]
Pierrot shoved his hand between his thighs, saliva spraying wildly.
[—IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING!!!]
Pierrot bent his knees and lunged. The dagger drawn from his chest targeted Tirpe.
Though weak in strength, it was a throw utilizing his 「D+」 agility.
And on top of that—
『The Unfunny Clown swaps 「Air」 and 「Acrobatic Dagger」.』
『He swaps 「The dagger's speed」 with 「The speed of his arm」.』
His ability layered atop it.
An irregularity and velocity that even a 40th-floor Climber couldn't evade.
The dagger should have traversed space to reach Tirpe's throat.
It should have.
But in that instant, the Overlord grasped empty air. Under that light grip, space itself turned transparent. The surrounding mists burst apart from the shockwave.
[!]
Pierrot's eyes flew wide open.
The Overlord's gauntlet, radiating a pale glow, had crushed the dagger mid-flight.
[......W-what kind of—!?]
It was impossible.
He had swapped the dagger beyond the concept of space itself. So how could it have been intercepted by the Overlord's hand midway?
The dagger hadn't even passed through physical space to begin with—how—?
But it no longer mattered.
The Overlord flickered like a fading illusion.
His remaining time was up.
[Kkhhahahaha! I don't know just how important that Fallen Angel is, but if you won't strike me down directly, then your intervention must have limits!!]
Dozens of acrobatic daggers materialized between his reversed fingers.
[I'll stay behind and enjoy myself a little longer.]
Pierrot's eyes gleamed as he leapt.
[Let's go!! You idiot!!]
Behind him, the Dim-Witted Pot-Bellied Clown, who had been standing dumbly, roared and launched its massive body toward Tirpe.
[This is as far as I can go. Now, it's your turn to choose.]
The Overlord faded like embers scattering.
His blurred silhouette melted into the mist, vanishing entirely.
[Will you give up here, or—]
That final murmur dissolved into the haze.
The moment he disappeared, Tirpe staggered to her feet.
Her heart had stopped. Blood no longer circulated.
She was already a corpse. But even in death, she had to survive—because something still remained.
Thump. Thump.
A child's heart was still beating.
And so—
"...Ugh, ugh, UUAAAAH...!"
She forced herself up with a guttural cry dredged from her gut.
A scream born from ruin clawed its way out of her numbness.
Excruciating agony and numbness warped her mind.
But amidst it all, one thing surfaced in her thoughts.
『The child lends you strength.』
"I..."
Her weakened, trembling pupils lifted.
"...can't..."
[Kkhahahahahaha!]
She raised a hand devoid of strength. As if supporting it, the Obelisk of Origin blazed with light.
『The 「Obelisk of Origin」 supplies a 「Noble Record」.』
『<The Tower> observes the 「Obelisk of Origin」.』
The power sustaining her body cut off. But that momentary surge was enough.
"I can't... die here...!"
Her cross-shaped pupils flared wide.
『Holy Eye activates.』
The charging clown vanished in an instant.
"!"
[Kkhh—!?]
The clown appeared behind Tirpe.
Squelch!
A fountain of blood erupted from her body as it was riddled with dagger strikes.
The clown moved again. The Fallen Angel's wings were torn apart.
Her arm was ripped off.
"......"
The clown vanished once more, and blood sprayed from her thigh where the dagger had grazed.
Tirpe's body, now drenched in blood, tilted sideways and collapsed.
Yet her lips trembled faintly before whispering:
"...『Light's...」
A spear formed of the faintest light materialized in her hand.
[Kkkkkkkkkk!]
Pierrot disappeared again.
Shiiing!
A dagger swung from the side split the Fallen Angel's halo clean in two. The impact drove into her skull, shattering her consciousness. But even with her vision inverted, she hazily locked onto her enemy.
"...Judgment...」"
The spear launched itself from her unmoving hand. Yet before it could travel far, it evaporated into the air as if erased.
Her other thigh split down the middle, gushing blood.
[Huh, huh? Is this it? This is all?]
Tirpe, now collapsed forehead-first onto the ground, couldn't even wipe the tears streaming unbidden down her face. All she could do was clutch her stomach—more desperately than preserving any shred of dignity.
「The fetus suffers from its mother's agony.」
'S-sorry...'
The regressor, who had vowed never to break no matter the hardship, was crying. She had fallen.
She hadn't wanted to die like this—weeping.
She hadn't wanted to show such weakness to these vile creatures. Because the moment she revealed vulnerability, she knew the suffering would only worsen.
'Park Si-hyun... You're... safe now, right...?'
The moment she thought of the one she loved, her oxygen-deprived mind grew numb.
The person she longed for was no longer by her side, but the bright days they had shared together surfaced in her memory.
—We can go back.
Remembering that those memories were the only salvation in her life, Tirpe smiled faintly.
[Tsk, tsk, giving up now? How disappointing. Then, as a final act, let me show you...]
Pierrot, his disappointment blatant, reached for her stomach.
[...your child!]
In her fading consciousness, Tirpe felt her belly.
'I'm sorry... For not being able to show you how bright the world could have been.'
Pierrot's hand spread wide before her eyes.
And then.
Bzzzt—
The clown's hand froze. Pierrot's face abruptly brightened.
Tirpe's dazed eyes rolled upward just in time.
A radiant brilliance flooded her vision.
The space where Tirpe's spear had been launched was now fractured—tiny cracks spreading.
The fissures widened, and light descended.
Crackle—
"Ah...?"
Like a single stroke of a blade cutting through a world of dark clouds—a streak of sword light.
A meteor-like flash of extreme radiance.
For a moment, she couldn't comprehend what was happening.
But it was happening.
Zzzzzzzzt—
The luminous cracks branched outward in all directions.
As if the world had turned to glass and shattered, space itself fractured and split apart.
Bzzzzzzzt—!
[Gyaaaaaaah?!]
Blinding light. The sheer pressure alone sent the clown hurtling back, unable to keep his footing. Yet Tirpe, untouched by the force, saw it.
A sword emerged from the breaking light.
And within it—a person.
"Ah..."
An arm wrapped around her chest in an instant, yanking her backward.
"!"
A scent more familiar than any other brushed against her nose.
Tears welled in Tirpe's frozen eyes.
"...Why...?"
His single arm trembled as the sword in his grip pulsed.
A greatsword of unfathomable depth, its form layered with countless overlapping shapes.
"Haha... I came to get you. And this is the third time I'm saying it—let's go meet your family. So I can deliver the news myself."
From within the light, Park Si-hyun looked at Tirpe.
His face, shoulders—his entire body was drenched in blood, with no part spared.
"Also... I'm not the kind of guy who can just let things slide."
Si-hyun's gaze locked onto the clown.
The panicked clowns stared past the luminous fissure. The light was so blinding they couldn't even keep their eyes fully open.
[Kkkkkkgh! W-what kind of power is this?!]
The clowns shrieked as they tried to breach the radiant cracks. But they couldn't withstand the pressure of the light long enough to approach.
Si-hyun glared at them and snarled:
"...You fucking bastards. The ice monster's coming—you'd better run now."
Crrrrrrack—
The luminous lines were already repairing themselves. The spreading fractures mended, restoring the space to its original form.
This was the power of the Overlord—splitting dimensions. The world was simply reverting to its natural state.
Si-hyun pressed forward through the narrowing gap.
He pointed at the clowns with his index finger.
"Make sure you survive... Because I will tear you apart with my own hands!! Once I cross the 50th floor... I will come back to kill you. So keep those necks intact until then. You fucking pieces of shit!"
Every ounce of his boiling rage and resentment was poured into that roar.
The light fracturing space narrowed until it seared his pupils.
Snap.
Finally, even the last sliver of light sealed shut.
"The moment I return will be the beginning of your doom, you clowns."
Those were his last words.
Park Si-hyun and Tirpe vanished beyond the rift—burning away like embers.
